


wispwanderer

by possum-sticks (pupperbox)



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Intense, M/M, dammit snufkin, distressed harmonica noises, hand-holding before marriage, obvious pining, really gay, snufkin is a cutie, snufkin wanders through spooky forest, snufkin/moomin, snufmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:33:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pupperbox/pseuds/possum-sticks
Summary: snufkin decides to take a shortcut back to moominvalley, but it doesn't quite go as he planned...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> decided i'd try my hand in some moominvalley fanfiction cause its taking over my life day by day. enjoy.

it had been a few hours since snufkin was supposed to return to moominvalley, and he admitted, that's mostly his own fault for getting distracted along the way. he took out a map from his backpack and looked at the locations, seeing which path would take him to moominvalley quickest...  
"wispwander forest, eh? well, if it'll get me there quicker.," he mumbled to himself, rolling the map back up and heading in the direction of moominvalley.  
soon his legs were knee-deep in mist as he followed his chosen path, a dread falling over his shoulders he hadn't yet to identify...

\-------------

moomin was waiting impatiently all day, and he was getting extremely worried, what if something had happened to his friend? he'd been late before but usually not this late. it was already getting dark and snufkin surely would have to sleep out in the still quite chilly night all alone if he didn't arrive soon... little my popped out from the moominhouse and hopped over to Moomin. "hey, Moomin, dinner's ready! get in here!" she yelled, running back in, snickering excitedly. he sighed and figured snufkin would be fine.. hopefully...

 

\-------------------------------------------------------

it was dark, the moon shining a dim light over the thick woods, which seemed unhelpful as the forest floor was covered in a strange, black mist.  
snufkin was sure he should've been in moominvalley by now, but the minutes grew longer and longer, and his legs felt sore and tired. he really should rest, but he's already this late, he'll be lucky if Moomin finds him passed out at the bridge in the morning.  
the farther he walked, the more tired and weak he got, yet when he looked behind him, he saw he hadn't actually gotten that far at all, in fact, though he was a deep way in, he could still see where he first came in. he stared in confusion as dread settled further into his core.  
when he felt something touch his shoulder, his mind begged him to run, and he would have, were it not for how sleepy he suddenly felt, like the energy was being drained from him by the second.  
panic settled in slowly, but as he felt a tug on his cloak, pulling him back deeper into the forest, a burst of adrenaline from pure fear sent him sprinting as fast as he could in his weakened state.  
what a few minutes ago was a peaceful, eerie forest was now full of.. wails? it was haunting, but to his tired ears, it sounded like the sweetest lullaby. his legs kept moving but his mind was already half-asleep.

the adrenaline was wearing off, and he got slower, and slower until he could run no farther, collapsing to the floor as the mist filled his lungs and long branch-like arms went out to grab him and soothe him to sleep. he was about to submit to his captor when he remembered something. he was almost a whole day late to moominvalley, and Moomin must be worried sick. his adrenaline was long gone but in his panic, he shuffled through his back the best he could as his vision blurred, pulling out his harmonica, and as the world was fading to black, he played it as loud as he could, his springtime song filling the forest and, hopefully, they valley on the other side. he dropped his harmonica and was suddenly deep, deep into sleep, his mind empty...

____

moomin sat outside as he insisted at the table alone, barely even picking at his food as he waited impatiently for snufkin. moominmama had told Moomin to hurry up 15 minutes before, and surely she would be out again to summon him to sleep.  
he was about to accept his defeat and go back inside when he heard the loud notes from a harmonica being played, loud enough to wake everyone in the valley. his heart would have lept in joy if it weren't for the sour notes that were squeezed out as it ended and the shaky and almost distressed higher pitch notes snufkin would surely never let slip as a greeting tune.  
moomin's stomach sank in concern, and suddenly he was up and running in the direction of his friends call, and he soon understood what had happened as he approached the wispwander forest, the cursed forest where people who get lost in are doomed to sleep forever in its thick flora.

he ran as fast as he could, diving into the bushes and into the thick mist that filled his lungs. he was too panicked to submit even a little to its effects, and he could see snufkin's body lying face-down on the dirt floor, and from how it looked to Moomin, you could've sworn he was dead.  
moomin quickly tore away the branches and vines from around snufkin's body, the forest wailing in response to the sudden attack. snufkin was soon free and in Moomin's arms, and Moomin rushed for the exit as the forest tried to pull Moomin back into its clutches, but to no avail.  
Moomin ran back to Moominhouse as soon as he could, shouting and yelling for moominmama and moominpapa. they and little my came rushing out and gasped in worry as they saw Moomin, crying and tired, with a seemingly lifeless snufkin in his arms. they pulled the 2 inside and Moomin set snufkin on the couch, letting moominmama check his pulse. it wasn't often the wispwander forest was powerful enough to send somebody to death's clutches on its own, but it wasn't unheard of, and Moomin feared for the worst.

moominmama sighed and looked back to Moomin, "he's alive" she assured, "but he won't be up for probably days, and how well he will be when he wakes I am not sure..".  
Moomin was devastated, his friend was alive but there was a chance he might be unwell when he awakes? that can't be a good sign at all. Moomin gave snufkin's sleeping body a big bear hug, which seemed to last much longer than the 5 minutes it did. moominmama and moominpapa were almost as worried as Moomin was, and couldn't help but shed a small tear in worry for the vagabond.

the room was deadly quiet and that silence was only broken by little my. "wait, look!" she shrieked, pointing to snufkin. Moomin looked down to see snufkin's eyes slowly opening, and his arms rising to return the hug, but instead lazily draping over Moomin's shoulders. "mm..m..moo..min.. d..dove..." he mumbled, still half asleep yet other than that, awake, and Moomin's face flushed red at the nickname. he smiled and almost cried in joy, hugging his friend tighter. snufkin gave a weak smile, closing his eyes once more and falling back into sleep, leaving Moomin and the others much less worried than before.  
Moomin was about to get up when suddenly the room was filled with soft, yet still audible purring, and no doubt it was snufkin's.

Moomin decided to sleep on the couch that night, his friend at his side for his quite early yet well-deserved "hibernation" of his own.


	2. take my hand, sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> snufkin awakes days later, Moomin laying by his side.

snufkin awoke, his mind still quite foggy and his body heavy as can be, yet still, he was awake. he looked around to see he was in the moominhouse, on the couch, under a blanket.  
ah, the forest. he remembered now. he had fallen asleep and Moomin must have come to his rescue.  
snufkin went to move when he felt a familiar weight to his side, looking over to see Moomin cuddled close but not too close to him. normally snufkin doesn't like cuddles at all, but right now, with as tired as he still felt, he didn't have the energy to mind, snuggling closer into Moomins fur.

Moomin stirred and opened his eyes to look at snufkin only to be met with snufkin's eyes staring into his. Moomin, startled, jumped back and almost would have fallen off the couch if it weren't for snufkin quickly grabbing onto his arm.  
"heh, didn't mean to scare you, Moomin" snufkin chuckled, a bit raspier than usual due to his nap.  
Moomin sighed in relief. "it's okay, snufkin, sorry I was so close to you, are you okay? it's just I got so worried and I didn't know if you were gonna wake up again and I just wanted to be sure you were okay and-" Moomin rambled before snufkin pressed a finger to his lips.  
"Hush, it is fine. how about we get some breakfast and eat outside? I could use some fresh air" he suggested, rubbing his tired eyes.  
Moomin agreed, and the 2 spent the morning waking up and making breakfast, sitting outside to eat.  
by the time they had sat down, moominmamma was already awake.

after snufkin and Moomin had finished their food and rinsed their dishes, they went back out for some overdue fishing. snufkin almost dozed off a couple of times, coming dangerously close to falling in the river from the bridge rail's edge, and he would have if it weren't for Moomin keeping him up. Moomin and snufkin decided it'd be best to skip on the fishing and maybe just go hang out in the valley somewhere. they had found a nice lovely wide open space in the valley free of other beings, for now, to rest in, the grass going on for miles. snufkin laid down on a rock, staring at the sky, and occasionally, at Moomin. snufkin dozed off, his breaths soft and quiet, peaceful. his head was tilted in Moomin's direction, as he had been staring at his friend before falling asleep. Moomin took notice of this, lying closer to his friend and letting himself stare.

snufkin looked so peaceful like this, his eyes gently closed, his chest rising and falling in a steady motion, and then the smaller details, like how pink snufkin's cheeks, nose, and ears were, his slightly messy yet lovely short hair, and oh how Moomin wanted to touch it sometimes, let his paws run through it and untangle it... he'd never admitted it to anybody but himself, but snufkin was very beautiful, handsome even. he felt guilty for thinking such things as snorkmaiden still thought the same of himself, but he never truly liked her the way he liked snufkin... snufkin every winter would take a bit of Moomin's heart with him until he took the rest next spring. snorkmaiden was a friend, a lovely friend, but snufkin would always have a special place in Moomin's heart, even if, not even to him, shall he admit it. Moomin dozed off himself and had many wonderful, happy dreams, all of them with snufkin somehow by his side.

____________________________________

Little my had been told to fetch Moomin and snufkin for dinner after being out for so long, and of course, being little my, assumed they were hiding something. a secret adventure they weren't including her in, perhaps. she ran into the field, searching for the 2 dorks when she almost tripped on something. ah, there they are. she had almost tripped over snufkin's leg, and looking at them she realized they were practically cuddling, both of them facing each other as Moomins paw lazily rested on top of snufkin's. Little my cackled to herself, kicking Moomin awake, which in turn, woke snufkin up as well. "ooow... Little my, what was that for?" Moomin groaned, rubbing the area she kicked. snufkin rubbed his eyes, resting his had atop his head once more. "its time for dinner, come inside you two nerds" she teased, running off. Moomin looked to snufkin, and snufkin nodded, signaling he would be up in a sec. Moomin ran off to catch up as snufkin rubbed his paw, the feeling of Moomin's paw on his lingering, making snufkin feel curiously empty... he ignored the feeling, following Moomin back to Moominhouse.


End file.
